Same-sex marriage supporters, dispirited by another Loss at the polls in Maine-USA

Same-sex marriage supporters, dispirited by another loss at the polls in Maine-USA.however, they vowed Wednesday to press ahead to get new state laws passed allowing gay couples to marry.

"It's true we've had some setbacks," Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry, said after Maine residents on Tuesday voted to repeal their state's law allowing same-sex couples to wed. "But what social justice movement hasn't?"

Maine's law, signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci earlier this year, was supposed to take effect in September. Five states have legalized gay marriage: Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where its law is slated to take effect Jan. 1, 2010.

In California, voters last year passed a measure — widely known as Proposition 8— overturning a state Supreme Court ruling giving same-sex couples a constitutional right to marry. Maine allows for a popular vote on state laws after they are passed, effectively giving citizens veto power over the Legislature and governor.

The Maine legislation passed in April, and Baldacci signed the bill the same day the state Senate took its final vote. He previously had been on record supporting civil unions and opposing gay marriage. "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage," he said when he signed the measure into law.

On Wednesday, a leader of the group that campaigned to repeal the law celebrated. "The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation," said Frank Schubert of Stand for Marriage Maine.

Gay-rights activists vowed to continue to promote gay marriage laws. "We're not short-timers," said Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for No on 1/Protect Maine Equality. "We'll be here fighting. We'll be working. We will regroup."

But they said it was too soon to say whether they would seek passage of a new law in Maine. "Today's not a day to talk strategy," said Mary Bonauto of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.

Wolfson says he hopes lawmakers in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., will vote by the end of the year to approve gay marriage.

Such legislation has not fared well at the polls. In all 31 states, now including Maine, where the issue has been put to a popular vote, gay marriage has lost.

"Every time Americans vote on marriage, traditional marriage wins," said Wendy Wright, president of the conservative group Concerned Women for America. "As people become aware of the true homosexual agenda — that it is not about equality but indoctrinating children and discriminating against Christians — they shore up protections against it."

In Washington state, however, a ballot measure upholding legislation that expands benefits for same-sex couples was holding a narrow lead as officials continued to count votes Wednesday.

The law, passed in May and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, gives same-sex partners who register with the state the same benefits granted to heterosexual couples.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com